Student Anxiety, Preparation, and Learning Framework for Responding to External Crises: The Moderating Role of Self-Efficacy as a Coping Mechanism

Abstract

In response to the Journal of Marketing Education special issue on teaching turmoil and triumphs in times of crisis, we develop and test a student anxiety, preparation and learning framework for responding to external crises. We use structural equation modeling to assess how COVID-19 anxiety impacts classrelated anxiety, class preparation, and class learning, and how these then affect class satisfaction and intent to pursue a sales career. Using three sequential virtual sales competitions, we test our model in the immediate aftermath of the transition from live in-class learning to virtual learning brought on by COVID-19, offering an ideal setting for investigating marketing education in a time of crisis. The findings are unique, and show that how crises are managed impacts the deleterious effects of anxiety on education and learning. While anxiety had the greatest influence on class preparation, class preparation in turn was not related to class learning, class satisfaction, nor intent to pursue a sales career. However, when digital self-efficacy was considered as a moderator, the expected effects of class preparation emerged. Our findings contribute to multiple theoretical contexts, including anxiety, crisis management, self-efficacy, marketing education, and virtual sales role-plays.